ZAGREB, Oct 17 (Hina) - The Media Council of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (HHO) opposes a hasty separation of Croatian Television (HTV) and Croatian Radio (HR) and the privatisation of HTV's third channel, Council
chairman Bozidar Novak said on Thursday.
ZAGREB, Oct 17 (Hina) - The Media Council of the Croatian Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights (HHO) opposes a hasty separation of
Croatian Television (HTV) and Croatian Radio (HR) and the
privatisation of HTV's third channel, Council chairman Bozidar
Novak said on Thursday. #L#
"A hasty separation of Croatian Radio Television (HRT) into HTV and
HR in line with the existing Law on HRT would have serious
consequences, particularly for HR, which would face grave
financial problems," Novak told reporters in Zagreb on Thursday.
The Council, therefore, believes that the final decision should be
made after the possible repercussions of the separation are
assessed and foreign experts consulted, and once a separation
balance of the two institutions has been completed.
The Council also believes that the third channel should not be
privatised until the owners of dailies and political weeklies are
legally banned from owning a TV station as well. Under the Law on
Telecommunications, the ban currently applies only to the owners of
radio stations.
The Council has drawn up a set of proposals for announced changes to
the Law on HRT, which the Culture Ministry has been working on.
According to one of them, representatives of parliamentary parties
should return to the HRT Council.
The HHO believes that one should keep the pluralist model of the HRT
Council, including representatives of the most important social
groups, but warns that under the current law, politics, as one of
the more important components of pluralism, is not formally
represented in the Council. Such a situation inevitably leads to
the establishment of unofficial forms of political influence on the
Council's work, the HHO says.
The HHO, therefore, suggests that the current number of Council
members (25) not be changed, but that the Council also include a
group of eight parliament deputies. Its composition would not
reflect the balance of forces in parliament but each party bench
would have one representative.
(hina) rml sb